Astronomical Applications Department, U.S. Naval Observatory NAO 150 (Page 8)

mission.)

FAME

will be

able to do an order of mag-
nitude better than HIP-
PARCOS in positional
measurements of solar sys-
tem objects.

FAME

will

also go substantially
fainter, allowing observa-
tions of many more aster-
oids and natural satellites
than HIPPARCOS. Natu-
ral satellite observations
-- especially in the outer
solar system -- are impor-
tant because, combined
with integrations of their
motion, they can be used
to obtain the positions of
the parent planets much more accurately than observations of the planets
themselves.

FAME

will potentially be able to reach over 20 natural satel-

lites and upwards of 2100 asteroids.

2. NEWCOMB: A SOLAR SYSTEM EPHEMERIS PROGRAM

Newcomb

is a new Solar System Ephemeris program currently under

development at the U.S. Naval Observatory. In terms of use at the

USNO

Newcomb will be the successor of

PEP

, the Planetary Ephemeris Program

maintained at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

, and of the DE

MURISON: MODELING PLANETARY MOTIONS

8 of 20

See

http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~reasen/ssd.html

for information about PEP.

See the official Newcomb program web site at

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/Newcomb/

. As

reviewed elsewhere in these Proceedings, Simon Newcomb (1835-1909) was a remark-
able force in 19th century American mathematics and astronomy. He was Superinten-
dent of the Nautical Almanac Office from 1877 to 1897, and he devoted much of his
prolific career to (in his words)

...a systematic determination of the constants of astronomy from the best existing
data, a reinvestigation of the theories of the celestial motions, and the prepara-
tion of tables, formulae, and precepts for the construction of ephemerides, and
for other applications of the same results.

Astronomical Applications Department, U.S. Naval Observatory - NAO 150 (Page 8)